The Ten to Save Aincrad
by LordDrakanoth
Summary: Kayaba Akihiko mentioned 10 unique skill users, but only Kirito and Kayaba were shown. What would happen if the other eight appeared - how would the game have changed? This story focuses on one - the struggles and victories he went through. Rewrite of the later floors; beginning plot focuses on OCs. Don't worry - still Asuna x Kirito!
1. Chapter 1

**Here we go again - looks like another SAO fanfic from me.**

**Hello, everyone. I can only hope I'll meet with more satisfaction from this than the Crimson Swordsman. I've learned a lot since I wrote that story, so I hope you guys will like this one just as much (or more. Hopefully more.)**

**As always, enjoy reading!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online or any of its characters.**

* * *

I slowly opened my eyes to the sound of my annoying-as-always alarm clock, temporarily blinded by the sunlight shining through the window above me.

_Just 5 days now_, I thought.

I sat up on my bed, stretching my back and yawning, then got up and flipped my calendar onto the November page. I managed to restrain myself from smashing my alarm clock in for another day, turning off the alarm and rubbing my eyes.

My name is Rei Katsura, gaming extraordinaire. In my mind, at the very least. Really, I'm just an average 13-year-old – slightly-messy black hair, gray eyes, and a build that erred on the slight side. Beyond that, I was just a quiet, somewhat-scholarly kid who never made any trouble in class and tried not to stand out too much.

After quickly throwing on a pair of black jeans, an SAO promotional shirt and a burgundy sweatshirt, I pushed open my bedroom door and walked into the living room, only to find my older brother already busy cooking breakfast in the connected kitchen.

"I thought it was my turn to cook," I said, scratching my head a little bashfully.

"You'd probably use sugar instead of salt and then burn it all anyways, you're so affixed on that game that's going up soon," he said, looking at me over his shoulder. "What was it called – Sword something, wasn't it?"

"Sword Art Online," I corrected him, flopping onto the couch. "And I'm not that bad!"

My brother's – cousin, in reality – name was Osamu Nakane. At 22 years old, his hair is a kind of golden-brown with hazel eyes to compliment it. He isn't particularly large, but under his average build he's a lot more muscular than you would first think (as proved by a series of arm wrestling matches I've had with him). To top it off he's tall – just under 2 meters.

He worked at a local printing company. He'd always wanted to write a book, but between juggling me and my sister, college online classes, and work, he'd just never managed to got around to it.

"The first thing you do when you get in the door is ask your sister for any updates on the game," he said. "Only after she's informed you on every little detail do you take your shoes off and say you're home."

I blushed slightly, mainly because everything he'd just said was completely true.

Seemingly as if on cue, my sister walked into the room and sat in the armchair, setting her laptop down on the table and promptly getting set up for a day of gaming. "'Morning" happened to be all she got out before putting on headphones and becoming lost to the world.

My sister – who, in fact, was actually my cousin's cousin – is the only person I know who can out-game me. Her parents died in a car accident three years ago, and since then she's been entrusted into the care of my cousin. Her blonde hair is long enough to stretch to her waist, slightly curly, and surprisingly soft (yes, I had to try feeling it at least once). She has striking blue eyes and was of a height with me, at about 170 cm. She's a NEET, since she never really wanted to go to school after the accident and my cousin didn't force her, with the name of Rin Uemura; also my gaming partner of choice.

"Not beta testing today?" I asked her as the smell of breakfast wafted throughout the house.

"Servers are down for maintenance," she replied, leaning over and typing furiously on the keyboard.

"Any news beyond that?"

"Nope."

"Nothing?"

"No."

"Are you su-"

She gave me a sharp glance, then went back to her game. I sat there sulking until my brother finally said that breakfast was ready.

I got up and walked over to the dining table, tapping my sister on the shoulder on the way since she probably hadn't heard our soft-spoken brother.

After Rin had decided to take her headphones off and sit down at the table, I ate my breakfast quickly, then grabbed my schoolbag and threw my shoes on. "See you later!" I said, giving a quick wave then disappearing out the door.

I was a couple blocks away from the house when my phone rang. "Hello?"

"You realize it's only 7:20, right?" my sister said from the other end of the line.

"I...like to be early?"

"There's nothing to do before school starts. Anyhow, you're supposed to be sick, remember?"

"...I'm sure I can find something to do. And I feel fine right now."

She sighed. "That's what you said yesterday, before you said your brain exploded."

I huffed out a sigh. "Fine." I turned and started walking back to the house. "I'll see you back home, then," I said, before hanging up.

I never really understood why, but shortly after my parents died two years ago I started getting infrequent yet unbearable headaches. The doctors all said it was some sort of reaction, but all I knew was that they hurt like hell.

I walked back into the house and took my shoes off, my cheeks tinged pink partly from the wind and partly out of embarrassment.

My sister glanced over from the armchair she'd situated herself in again. "You should really let yourself recover more, you know. SAO's turning you into an idiot."

I stuck my tongue out at her and withdrew to my room, booting my PC up and putting some headphones on.

My sister walked into my room a couple dozen seconds later. "Servers are back up," she said, looking meaningfully at my computer.

I looked at her sullenly. "You have a laptop and a PC in your room."

"But yours is better!" she said, smiling brightly at me.

"Use the one you'll be using when the full game comes out," I retorted, turning in my chair and focusing back on what game to play.

"You're no fun," she pouted, walking out and into her room across the hall.

I sighed. "Why'd she get to be a beta tester and not me?" I glanced at my calendar. _5 days. Just 5._

Until my world changed forever.

* * *

**Not quite a prologue, not quite a chapter...whatever it was, there you have it.**

**Getting right to SAO this fanfic. I don't feel too much of a need to write much about what happened beforehand - and of course, flashbacks are always an option. In regards to canonity - read both Volume 1 and Volume 2, so hopefully I'll be doing fine on that front, though the story will be altered here and there. I wouldn't call this a complete rewrite - in fact, for a large part of the story it will be completely focused on the OCs and their own plot - but...well, you'll just have to find out.**

**Thanks for reading, everyone! Depending on how my creativity fares, I'll have Chapter 2 up as soon as I feel like it! (...jeez, that sounds bad...but it also happens to be the truth, so. Luckily I feel I can work with this story - moreso than the Crimson Swordsman, at the very least. Please excuse the abuse of parantheses.)**

**Seriously though - thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi, guys (and gals)!**

**I feel like my writing's improved a lot from my last fanfic - I attribute this mostly to reading the first couple volumes of SAO and learning how the author wrote, but I'm sure you guys helped with your reviews of the Crimson Swordsman too.**

**For some reason I feel like I just can't write long author's notes anymore (not that it's a bad thing) so I'll just go ahead and say -**

**Enjoy reading!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online.**

* * *

The days slowly floated by while I did a combination of gaming and checking every message board I knew for updates on SAO.

While I knew I could probably have gone to school the last few days before SAO was released, I couldn't help but concentrate completely on Sunday, November 6th, 2022. My brother, being the awesome brother he is, didn't bother pushing me since he knew I wouldn't be able to concentrate in school anyways.

Then, finally, it came. I was in my bed, NerveGear hooked up, copy of SAO ready at 12:45, just waiting for 1:00 to finally appear on the Gear's interface.

I could barely hold in my enthusiasm at finally being able to play the world's first VRMMORPG. The day I heard about it, I wanted it. When my sister was miraculously chosen as one of a thousand beta testers, my longing for it increased even more. When she was waiting for me one day after school with a copy of it in her hands – well, I just couldn't wait. The days I've waited have all felt like their own lifetimes; my life was all leading up to this point.

And practically before the time even fully displayed, I was shouting "Link Start!" and flying through the usual maintenance checks.

And then, suddenly, I was there. In the world I had wanted to see since I first heard of it.

«Aincrad».

I glanced around a bit, taking it all in, before focusing on the task at hand. _She said we'd meet on the south end, near the bench on the eastern side..._ I spotted a female avatar that looked pretty similar to her IRL and walked over.

"That you, Rin?" I called to her before standing in front of her. I noticed she looked pretty much the same, though she'd changed her eye color to green and shortened her hair a bit.

"Call me by my IGN," she said, looking me up and down. I basically looked the same as well, though I'd made my hair a slightly darker shade of black.

"Can't call you by your IGN if I don't know what it is," I said, before holding out a hand for her to shake. "My name's Katsurei."

She took my hand and shook it. "Reina. I can still just call you Rei, right?"

"If I can just call you Rin."

She sighed. "I guess. It's close enough to my IGN anyways."

I nodded, opening and closing my hands a couple of times. "So, I'd assume we're going out into the field?"

"Yeah. You're going to be pretty useless until you actually learn how to move and fight in this world." She grinned at me, then turned and started walking to the exit out of town.

"Harsh...but true, I suppose," I said, scratching my head and following her outside.

What I saw outside took my breath away. "You're...sure this is a «game», right?"

Plains seemed to stretch endlessly anywhere I looked. The level of detail on the graphics was incredible; I didn't even know it was possible for a game of this scale to look this good.

She smirked at me. "An «RPG», in fact. So if we don't hurry, all the easy monsters are already going to be hunted down and we're going to be stuck in the «Starting City» until they respawn."

I happened a glance at the mass of players still standing in the central square. "...wait, shouldn't we go and get some equipment first?"

"The «Unarmed» skill's useful to have in case you can't use your weapon for some reason. Besides, it'll be easier with a weapon since you have more range."

"So teaching it to me the hard way, so I can figure it myself out the easy way."

She nodded. "Exactly. Now let's go, before all the other players come to their senses." She started jogging in a random direction, and I followed her, still marveling at the level of detail the game had.

She pointed at a «Frenzy Boar» roaming the field. "Try fighting it."

I looked at her, exasperated. "No teaching at all or anything? What if I die?"

"If you die you'll never get to be my student again, seeing as that's the easiest «monster» the game has to offer." She smirked and pushed me toward it.

As soon as it spotted me, it gave out a squeal and started charging towards me. I, still unsure what to do, simply sidestepped, entirely unsure what to do.

"Open your window and check your skills!" Rin called out to me, making a motion with her right hand.

I followed suit, sidestepping the Boar again as it charged, and opened my skills menu. I quickly read through the «Unarmed» skill description and what I had unlocked in it, then equipped it and got ready for the next charge.

It turned around and charged at me again, letting out a squeal in the process. This time I surged forward to meet it, putting my hands in position for a throwing skill. The system recognized my pose and quickly moved to toss the boar a few feet away, shaving off a bit of its HP bar and allowing me to go on the offensive.

I charged toward the downed Boar and unleashed a two-hit combo, taking off a fair bit of its HP, followed up with a quick strike by my left fist, then used the most powerful skill I currently had: a powerful six-hit combo that took its HP into the red zone.

I leaped back, unsure how the Boar would react to having most of its HP taken off. It staggered to its feet and let out a guttural roar one wouldn't think would come from a pig, before turning to me and charging at me faster than it had before.

I crouched down slightly, then when it was within range released the final skill in my arsenal: a powerful single kick, which successfully took out the remainder of its HP and caused a purple window to show up with the XP and Col I'd gotten.

I glanced at the measly amount of loot I'd acquired, then turned to look at my sister, who gave me a thumbs-up and grinned. "You're a fast learner."

"Kinda had to in that situation, lest I get run over by 200 pounds of boar," I said somewhat sarcastically.

She shrugged and walked up to me. "Worked, didn't it?"

"So...are we getting weapons yet?" I asked.

"Nope. You're still in training." She smirked and poked my chest before taking off in a northward direction.

I sighed and followed her, already knowing this was going to be a long grind.

I finished the last Dire Wolf of the day off with a new skill I'd learned, «Viper Strike» - a quick, vicious strike that served as an excellent finisher.

I gave a quick look at the loot, then opened my menu. By 5:00 I was already a good way to level 3 and had gotten my «Unarmed» skill to level 6.

"I think I'll log out for now and get started on some of the homework I missed out on," I said to my sister, who was halfway to level 3 herself.

"Tell Onee-san I'll be back for supper," she said, closing her menu and looking around for any more monsters.

"'Kay." I navigated the menu to where the button to log out was -

Only to find it wasn't there.

"That's a pretty bad bug to have your first day..." I muttered.

My sister made a "hm?" sound and turned to me.

"The log out button isn't in the menu," I said. "It was there when I logged on, but there must've been a bug or something."

"But SAO's been practically bug-free, even since the beta," Rin said. "Having a bug like that on your first day...that could be pretty fatal, since we're stuck here until they fix it."

I sighed. "Well, at the very least...no math homework for now." I grinned at her. "I'll check again at 5:30. For now, I guess we're doing more grinding?"

"I was thinking we cold go buy some weapons now. Won't break our Col reserves."

I made a triumphant gesture with my fist. "Finally! An actual weapon!"

"Yeah, yeah. I just hope you won't kill yourself with it," she replied dryly.

I glared at her, then started walking back in the direction of the «Starting City».

I stared at the sun slowly dipping towards the horizon. "I still find it hard to believe this is a game..."

"Beyond things looking more polygonal it's pretty realistic," she agreed, gazing at the sun herself.

A couple dozen minutes later we were back in the plaza, now mostly deserted.

Rin gestured down a street. "The weapon shop's this way."

I nodded and started following her, listening to the NPC merchants' cries from their street stalls and looking at all the shop fronts and stalls. "It's exactly like we're in medieval Europe," I said, awed by the attention to detail.

"You get used to it eventually," she threw over her shoulder, then walked into one of the stores.

I followed her in, casting a few looks around. The weapon shop was, in a word, cozy – little sense as it made. A fireplace cheerily burned on one wall, fighting off the autumn chill, and weapons of all kinds sit on racks or simply on the floor all around the shop.

I walked up to the shop owner – a middle-aged man with gray hair and a fairly modest beard – and tapped the counter a couple of times to bring up the menu.

By the time my sister had already chosen her weapon and materialized it – a rapier – I was still deciding between all the weapon choices, mainly torn between a simply sword and shield or a greatsword.

She stared at me and tapped her foot impatiently, so I did some quick math and then bought all three items. I navigated quickly to my inventory and materialized the sword and shield, which I then strapped to my back.

As the merchant thanked us for our business, my sister asked, "Want something to eat?"

I looked at her curiously. "Why would we eat in-game if we're going to be eating IRL soon?"

She shrugged. "You get hungry here, too. Don't ask me why."

"I need to check on the bug again, first," I said, opening my menu and checking for the log out button. I shook my head. "Still not fixed."

"Have you tried contacting a GM?" she asked, opening her menu as well and typing out a quick message.

"Yeah, I'll try that," I said, doing the same.

She grinned at me. "So, since we'll be stuck here a little longer, do you want to eat or not?"

I shrugged. "Nothing better to do, I suppose." I glanced up and down the street quickly, before pointing to a cafe. "There?"

She nodded. "That's my favorite place, actually." She grinned and started walking towards it.

I sat down at one of the outside tables and tapped the table twice, glancing at the menu.

"Even the food's European," I said, deciding on a simple sandwich and a glass of water.

"Like I said, you get used to it," she said, deftly navigating the menu to order what she wanted.

When the food came, I bit into the sandwich – surprisingly good for how simple it was – and finished in a few minutes, feeling comfortably full. I stretched, waiting for my sister to finish, then got up.

I glanced at the time – 5:55 – and checked for the log out button one last time. "It's still not there!" I exclaimed, exasperated.

She finished and got up. "Seriously? They should have fixed it by now." She rapidly tapped some things, then frowned. "No response from the GM either..."

I shook my head. "Maybe it's more complicated than we think." I started walking back to the main plaza.

"Yeah. Hopefully." She followed behind me, still frowning and looking mildly worried.

When we got back, I sat down on a bench and marveled at the level of detail in the flowers and central clock tower once again. "Still...might not be so bad to be stuck here a while, I guess," I said, thinking.

"For a while. I wouldn't want to be stuck in a game any longer than that."

In a few minutes I'd regret those words as blue particles started shimmering around both of us, only to place us back where we were.

"...a forced teleport?" my sister muttered, as players starting appearing all around us.

And so the game began.

* * *

**A much better beginning than my first, I'd say. I'm certainly liking this story a lot more than the Crimson Swordsman, for whatever reason.**

**We'll see how soon I have Chapter 3 up - I'm feeling good about this today, so it might even be out later today (no promises, though). I also hope the MC's a little less OP than Drakan was - I agree that he was _just a little_ OP. [sarcasm]**

**Quick little edit here - I see I didn't set any actual name for Chapter 1, but sadly I have no idea what I'd name the chapters. So, guess I'm being generic this go around. Hooray!**

**And as always - thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello, everyone! Long time no see!**

**About halfway through the chapter, I just couldn't get enough motivation to write more than two sentences at a time. Finally broke through the writer's block today, and here's the product. Happy reading!**

* * *

"...Now, I have finished the official tutorial for «Sword Art Online». Players, I wish you luck."

Since Akihiko Kayaba had appeared and given us this mirror, I'd been staring at it, wondering why I wasn't scared to bits and instead had this steely, feverish glint in my eyes.

I finally looked up, only to find just about everyone looked different in some way – and that most of the girls had turned into guys.

I looked back at the hand mirror. _Ah. So that's what this was for..._ I thought, dropping it and letting it shatter into a bunch of little particles that dissipated a few seconds later.

I got up, stretched, and looked at my sister. "You don't seem very fazed by this," she said, worry in her eyes.

I grinned. "I always try harder in games with permadeath."

She just stared at me for a few seconds as the players began to go into an uproar around us, then burst out laughing. "You're either the most idiotic or brave person I met..." she said, eventually dying away into a fit of giggles and then composing herself again.

"Probably idiotic," I said, glancing around the plaza. I took note of the rather skewed male:female ratio, then looked at my sister. Looked back at the crowd. Looked to my sister.

I took her hand and pulled her up, then walked to the edge of the plaza. "Hey – what're you doing?" she stammered out, stumbling a bit before regaining her balance.

"Getting you away from all the 9000+ guys without girlfriends," I said, breaking through the wall of people and standing just outside the plaza.

"...oh," she said, blushing profusely and letting go of my hand. "What do we do now?"

"Shouldn't the beta tester know?" I asked, but then cut her off when she was about to speak. "Probably go to the next town, since the quests here have probably been taken and the monsters will be dead in a few hours."

She nodded. "We should be able to make it there, even at level 2. I know the most dangerous places, so we should be fine...I hope."

I grinned reassuringly at her. "C'mon, we'll be fine." I started walking towards the main gate.

"How can you be so calm in a situation like this?!" she shouted at me, stamping her foot. "Everyone else is scared to death, including me, and you don't even care! You think it's just another game!"

I turned, eyes wide open with surprise. "I...honestly don't know. But to me, it's true, it _is_ just another game to me. Another permadeath game." I shrugged. "Maybe I'm just better at ignoring the obvious than other people."

She glared at me, her eyes watery. "You're definitely the most idiotic person I know."

I walked up to her and looked into her eyes. "Trust me. We're not going to die."

"Big words, when we probably will," she said, continuing to glare.

I ruffled her hair and grinned. "Try being an optimist. It's a lot more fun."

She wiped her eyes angrily. "Fine, but let's focus on getting to the next town first."

"That's the spirit." I gestured to the gate. "Lead the way."

"Yeah..." she mumbled, before shaking her head once and setting out for the exit.

I followed, thinking. _Why _aren't_ I scared to die in this game? Then again, I've always felt more at home in some game then outside in the real world. But even in a permadeath game, you get a second chance... I don't have the luxury of just creating a new character this time, do I?_ I huffed a sigh. _Thinking this stuff isn't going to get me out of this_.

I loosed my sword in its scabbard a little and stepped out of town the second time this day, my mouth set in a grim line and my eyes burning with determination. _I guess I just have to win the game, then._

A couple of hours later, we'd finally made it to the next village – a cluster of quaint wooden cottages arranged around a central square.

I glanced at my HP bar. 132/453. My sister's bar was a little emptier than mine, since she was more geared towards offense.

She sighed and slid her sword back into its scabbard. "Made it at last."

"We're also both level 3 now," I said, ever the optimist.

"I feel like I could collapse..." she mumbled, swaying a bit. "Let's inn for the night."

I nodded and started towards the inn, grabbing her arm to steady her on the way. She trudged along after me.

After my sister had collapsed into a chair near the inn's fireplace, I tapped the counter a couple of times and ordered a room for the night. A key materialized in my hand, which I then held up in Rin's direction.

She stumbled to her feet, looking rather akin to a zombie, and started walking up the stairs. I followed and opened the door to our room, after which she promptly fell on the bed nearest the door.

I unequipped all my armor and weapons and followed suit on the other bed a few moments later. "Eventful release day, huh..." I murmured.

"Yeah...we should probably check for any quests first thing tomorrow, before someone else takes them," she quietly said back, rolling over to face me and yawning.

I nodded and yawned myself. "'Night, Nee-chan."

"'Night, Nii-chan."

I blinked a couple of times to get the sleep out of my eyes, then got up and stretched, yawning.

"About time you got up," Rin said, getting up from her bed and tossing me a piece of bread. "C'mon, we're going questing today."

I caught the bread, then rubbed an eye with my free hand. "It's only 8:13..."

She gave me an annoyed glance. "I set my alarm for 7, thinking you'd be a little less lazy." She shook her head and walked out the door.

"There are alarms...?" I pondered, then hurried and caught up with her, taking a bite of bread every once in a while. "There are alarms?" I asked her, taking another bite. It was warm and fluffy, obviously just out of the oven. Not exactly my usual choice of breakfast, but it worked.

"Yeah, you just go into your menu and select the time," she threw over her shoulder, heading for the nearest exit out of town.

"What's our first quest?" I asked, finishing my quick breakfast and heading into the menu to re-equip my equipment.

"Take out a dozen Dire Wolves that have been harassing villagers," she said, bringing up her menu.

I nodded. "Easy enough. They're not much of a problem anymore."

"Yeah. Most of these are pretty simple, we should have a fair amount done by lunch." She gave me a meaningful look. "Though we'd have more if you'd actually gotten up earlier."

I shrugged. "I don't control when I wake up."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Let's go."

Turned out her prediction was fairly accurate – we had 5 out of the 8 quests we had done by lunch.

I sunk into one of the chairs at the village restaurant. "All that running around was exhausting..."

My sister sat in the chair opposite me and opened up her menu, doing a quick scan of the loot we'd gotten. "Worth it though. We're both on our way to an upgrade on every equip slot."

I stretched, tipping my chair back a little, then sat forward and tapped the table. "Let's see..."

She tapped the table as well, glancing over the menu and making a vague "hm" sound.

I eventually decided on a bowl of vegetable soup and some water, then settled into my chair to get comfortable.

Rin quickly made a couple selections, then sighed and leaned back in her chair a bit.

After making quick work of my simple lunch, I stood up. "Which quest do you think we should do first?"

"Probably this one," she said, opening up her menu and making it visible to me, then pointing to one. "Some grinding of easy monsters will help us get warmed up for the miniboss in that quest."

I nodded. "I agree. Let's go."

Roughly an hour later, I slid my sword into its sheathe and sighed. "That was…a lot more enemies than I thought."

My sister nodded. "It was a good warmup, though. Ready for the miniboss?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose. I mean, the only other quest we have is just finding some random item."

She opened up her menu and quickly glanced through the quests. "It should be…that way." She pointed in a northwesterly direction.

About half an hour later, we stood at an arch made of a bunch of barbed branches weaved together. A fence expanded outward from the arch for about 100 meters and two goblin-looking humanoids seemed to guard the arch.

"Think they'll be friendly?" I joked, smirking.

"They might need a little persuasion." Rin grinned at me and drew her sword.

"Good. My sword arm needs a bit of a workout after that long walk." I charged the leftmost guard, deftly defeating it before it could do much of anything with a few quick sword skills.

As the monster's particles disappeared into the air, I looked over at the right guard to see it overwhelmed by the rapier's quick combos. Seconds later it fell to the ground and burst into particles.

I walked through the arch into what appeared to be a village. Rudimentary tents made of animal pelts and sticks were scattered about the enclosure. Directly opposite of where I stood I saw a massive goblin sitting on what appeared to be a wooden throne.

I pointed at the beast. "Looks like that's our quarry."

Rin appeared beside me and nodded. "Big, fat, and ugly. Fits the usual description."

I started walking towards it, but about halfway there two goblins intercepted me. I quickly parried the first one's blow and narrowly sidestepped the other, expected some kind of attack like this.

I blocked another blow, then saw my sister flash by and engage the other one. I used one of my combo skills to take it down to about half HP, then took the rest of it in a series of quick strikes.

The goblin chieftain didn't seem particularly impressed at my display, but instead decided to slowly rise out of its throne and pick up a huge axe leaning against a lantern pole next to his seat.

"Looks like he's ready to go," I said, as my sister watched her enemy disappear.

The monster walked slowly towards us, before suddenly putting on a burst of speed and charging at me.

As it got within range, it swung horizontally at me, but I was already in the air, jumping over the chieftain and landing at its back, quickly chaining as many combos as I could before it broke away and turned around.

Changing tactics, it switched its axe to a more defensive position and seemed to taunt us. I exchanged a quick glance with my sister, then flanked the beast as she rushed it head-on. A series of quick flashes made it apparent that the axe's speed wasn't even close to matching my sister's, and the monster's health bar depleted steadily.

As it was distracted by Rin's series of attacks, I rushed in and cut the backs of the beast's ankles. It kept its footing for a few moments longer, but then fell over backwards. I severed its head with a quick strike, and the last of its HP vanished.

I high-fived my sister, grinning, then turned to look around the village. After a quick glance around, I decided to take a look through the chieftain's tent while my sister combed through the loot we'd acquired.

It was sparsely furnished with some crude wood furniture, so the large diamond sitting on a primitive dresser stuck out immediately. I picked it up, inspecting it, then put it in my bag and walked back out.

"Anything of interest?" Rin asked as I walked back into November sun.

I held up the diamond. "I believe this finishes the other quest we have."

She nodded. "Looks like it. A lot of RPGs do this kind of thing: kill a miniboss for one quest, take one of the miniboss's items for another."

I grinned. "Does that mean we get the rest of the day to relax?"

"Nope. Those were only half the quests, I just didn't tell you."

"Dang. I was looking forward to a new town tomorrow." I sighed. "And next time don't keep a bunch of quests from me."

She shrugged. "Didn't want you killing yourself from trying to get them all done today."

"Does that mean we can relax for the rest of today?" I asked, smirking.

"…Fine." She managed an unhappy face a few seconds before grinning back. "By the way, here's a sword for you." She tossed me a giant two-handed sword, which I managed to catch without falling over from the weight.

Neither of us were prepared for that first boss fight.

* * *

**Now that I'm back in school, I have study halls to work on this, so hopefully I won't suffer from writer's block for Chapter 4. Let's hope I get it out soon!**

**As always, thanks for reading, everyone! I have good feelings about where this story's going...even if it takes me forever to release chapters.**

**I know some of you were sad to see the Crimson Swordsman go...I'll have to see whether I decide to write again on that or not. I'll think about it, and hopefully get an answer to you guys by Chapter 4 (or maybe release a chapter...but try not to be too crushed if I don't).**

**I'll see you all next chapter!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello, everyone! Not much to say that wasn't said prior...although I guess I should say it anyways.**

**Good old Floor 1 dungeon and boss fight in this chapter, as well as a confrontation with a certain someone. If you've read this before, you'll notice most of this is unchanged - I just rewrote the last half. I know, I know, no new chapter after months of waiting? Sorry about that...try and forgive me, okay?**

* * *

"Switch!" I parried the «Kobold Soldier's» sword, causing an opening in its defense, then leaped back and took a «Minor Health Potion» out of my pouch.

As I quickly drained the contents of the potion, Rin flashed by me and quickly finished the monster off with a few quick combos of her rapier.

As my health bar slowly began its ascent from the danger zone, I said, "Is it just me, or are these monsters a lot harder than the ones outside the dungeon?"

She slid her sword into her sheathe and turned to face me. "It's not so much a matter of their stats; their combat ability is a lot more advanced than what we faced before."

I nodded. "Stop at the next dead end?"

"Yeah."

For the past three days, my sister and I had been systematically clearing sections of Floor 1's dungeon. We estimated we'd mapped out about 5% of the dungeon. The XP gain was excellent, causing us both to level up twice during our clearing, and there was enough col to allow us to break even after stocking up on health potions for the day.

However, due to the skill of the monsters, we could only stay in the dungeon for about five hours at a time, hence why we could only map out to a dead end before heading back.

After another few minutes of walking and another Kobold encounter, we stood in front of a massive wall; obviously the dead end we had been hoping for.

We stood there for a few moments, catching our breath and observing the smooth stone wall that affronted us, before turning around and heading back.

The walk back was uneventful, with only a couple encounters with «Kobold Soldiers» on the way, which we dispatched easily enough.

I shaded my eyes as the noonday sun broke through the dungeon's gloom. "Feels like a waste to come from the dungeon so early," I said, sliding my sword into its sheathe.

"We've completed all the non-dungeon quests for this floor," Rin said. "And I don't really like the thought of going in there again."

I nodded. "Nonetheless, lying around relaxing after noon kind of defeats the purpose of getting up early, doesn't it?"

"Not if it means we can beat most people into the dungeon and take out most of the spawns."

I shrugged and made to respond when someone I didn't know waved at us and shouted, "Hey! Did you just come from the dungeon?"

I replied with a hesitant "Yeah" and the guy started walking over. He wore a green shirt underneath a simple breastplate that hardly looked better than the starting armor given out at the beginning of the game. He had light brown hair done up in a messy style that I swore was nothing more than bedhead and emerald green eyes – to match his shirt, I guess.

When he finally stopped in front of us the first words out of his mouth were, "The boss chamber's been found."

My eyes widened a bit, but I can't say I was too surprised. "When are we making preparations?" my sister asked.

"There's a meeting tomorrow at noon in the amphitheater," he said, pointing in the direction of the place. I nodded and said we'd be there, then the guy waved down another group and walked away.

"Let's grab some more potions and head back in," I said to Rin. "I'd like as many levels as possible for the boss."

She nodded. "I don't relish the idea of going into the dungeon twice in a day, but with the way the normal monsters are, I like the idea of fighting the boss underleveled even less."

I nodded an affirmation, then headed in the direction of the item shop, Rin following just behind.

I ducked, the «Kobold Soldier's» blade passing just above my head. I finished it off with a quick uppercut, causing it into burst into a bunch of particles that quickly dissolved into the air. I heard Rin's rapier slide into its sheathe and a «Battle Results» screen appeared before me, quickly followed by a «Level Up» window.

I drained my last potion and closed the windows. I opened my inventory and pulled out a sword I'd been waiting to use until I was level 12. It was a simple silver shortsword, but various runes etched into the blade added a little character. It felt light in my hand and its stats weren't too bad either.

I slid it into its black leather sheathe and slung it over my back before turning to my sister. "I'm out of Health Potions," I said.

She nodded. "I'm down to one or two. Let's head back."

The whole way back my mind was completely occupied with equal parts worrying about our levels and thinking up different sword skill combos.

After an apparently eventful noon meeting (we arrived late because my sister decided it necessary to stop for lunch first), it was agreed to head for the boss room tomorrow at 2 pm.

Afterwards, I headed for the dungeon once again, a greatsword strapped to my back to garner XP for the skill and my sister in tow.

After a blur of activity in which I only remember monsters disappearing into particles, the next day we stood in front of the massive, foreboding door that heralded the entrance to the boss room with the rest of the boss-hunting party.

I did one last durability check on my equipment before the leader, a man by the name of Diabel, pushed open the doors, which slowly swung open. The room beyond was ominously lit; everyone slowly filed in, weapons gripped tightly.

"Everyone remember what their job is!" he shouted, when suddenly the torches positioned around the room flared up and the boss showed itself – a giant, towering monster called «Illfang the Kobold Lord.» As if on cue, three «Ruin Kobold Sentinels» stepped from the shadows, glaring menacingly at us.

Most of the clearing party moved towards Illfang, but Rin and I, along with a couple other groups, moved towards the grunts. I engaged the nearest one, the clash of steel against steel calming and focusing my mind on the task at hand.

My sword glowed with the power of my unlocked sword skills as I dispatched the various grunts around the room, more spawning each time the boss lost some of its health. As I skewered the last one, causing it to dissipate into particles, I glanced over at the boss battle to see how it was going.

As I watched, the boss's health declined down to its final health bar. As soon as the second health bar fel to zero, it jumped back, discarding its axe and shield and drawing a completely different weapon – a nōdachi.

Suddenly, the boss was on the offensive, hitting the nearest group with a katana skill. "It didn't have a katana in the beta test!" my sister said, as if protesting the game itself. Suddenly, it was moving toward Diabel, whom it hit with a four-hit combo.

Suddenly, all hell broke loose. Our leader's HP bar hit zero. We all stood in shock for a moment, before moving in for the boss. I saw two oppositely-colored flashes fly by me before an auburn-haired rapier user and black-haired longsword user started raining blows on the boss.

The tank groups quickly moved in to provide support for the two users I'd eventually come to know as the Lightning Flash, Asuna, and the Black Swordsman, Kirito.

As the boss's final HP bar dipped into the danger zone, Kirito rushed it and nearly severed it in two with a «Vertical Arc» attack. Its HP bar hit zero and it burst into a storm of particles.

I thought it would all be over after that, but then a man named Kibaou spoke up, accusing Kirito of being a Beta Tester and a cheater – fusing the terms into the word "beater." Kirito, unfazed by the outburst, simply put on his new piece of equipment – a «Cloak of Midnight» - and walked to the entrance to the second floor.

The clearing group stood in silence for a while after this. I privately seethed at Kibaou's accusation, formulating an argument as quickly as possible. As Kirito's cloak disappeared through the doorway to the second floor, I began to speak.

"They're our best chance, you know." I hesitated for a second as Kibaou slowly began to turn towards me. "Without them, we wouldn't have cleared this dungeon already. Diabel, our fearless leader? He was one. He just wanted the «Last Attack Bonus». But without him, we wouldn't be organized. How many small parties would be dead, trying to defeat or even just get information on this boss?" I could see Kibaou's face slowly turning into a scowl of rage. Heedless, I kept going. "Kirito destroyed it for us. How many lives could it have taken in that stunned period after Diabel's death if he hadn't stepped in? My sister's one, too. What if she wasn't here, and I got overwhelmed by the «Ruin Kobald Sentinels»? You'd have a breach. Maybe you'd still beat the boss, but not with this few casualties. Do you want to outcast the beaters, or take hold of our best chance of getting out of here alive?" I took a deep breath after my speech. It takes a lot out of a guy to speak out against something while being surrounded by potential hostiles.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" shouted Kibaou, face contorted in anger. "They're the reason we got killed doing this! Following them just leads to our death!"

"The only person who died was Diabel. A beater himself. I should think you'd be _happy_ about that," I said, completely without emotion. I was getting tired of this guy's completely flawed logic. "What, do you think you can lead us better than he? A beta tester, with plenty of knowledge about this boss and bosses to come?" I smirked. "I bet you couldn't even beat me in a duel."

"I wouldn't even bother fighting a beater like you." He scowled and crossed his arms.

"I'm not," I said. "But, hell, I think I'd be a better leader than you would." I was just baiting him now, itching to smack this guy's smug face into the dirt.

His scowl grew ever deeper as I continued to talk. "Fine. If it's a duel you want, it's a duel you'll get." He opened his menu, quickly navigating buttons before a prompt opened up before me, asking if I wanted to accept the duel.

I pressed the "O" and drew my sword. "I'm going to enjoy this," I said, as the timer ticked down to zero.

* * *

**A/N My first activity after...well, months. Many, many, months, and it's just a rewrite of the last half of the chapter. Nonetheless, I think this will work out a lot better. Anyhow, I've actually given myself a schedule, so I should be working on this more regularly.**

**Of course, every time I promise a chapter, it never gets done, so...oops. Might have jinxed myself there. Sorry, guys.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

The spectators had all been standing in a stunned silence throughout our short argument. The only sound was Kibaou's sword sliding out of his sheath and Rin muttering "freaking idiot" under her breath. I thought about saying "I heard that," but instead started focusing on the battle, just in case he was better than I expected.

He wasn't. He charged at me as soon as the timer reached zero. I effortlessly parried his sloppy vertical slash. He activated a Sword Skill and moved at me once again in a horizontal cut, but once again I parried without a problem.

"Would you rather have this guy as your leader, or a beater who knows what they're doing?" I threw out to the crowd, sidestepping Kibaou's lunge. "The choice is yours, but so is the responsibility for the deaths." Kibaou's scowl reached a depth I didn't think possible. He once again charged me, attempting a feint – unluckily for him, it was executed very sloppily and our swords clashed once again as I blocked him.

Finally, I decided to go on the offensive myself. He frantically parried my initial thrust, but I could sense him struggling to keep up as I chained slash after slash, not allowing him a single moment of respite.

"I hate people like you. Casting people better than you down just to look good yourself." I cut his cheek with a lunge he'd managed to deflect at the last moment. "Do you really want this guy leading our efforts to get out of here?" I knocked his sword away, slashing at his exposed leg, but he backstepped. "Someone who stands not on their own achievements, but on those of others?" I tired of this exchange of swordplay, quickly executing Sword Skill after Sword Skill. I could see his health bar rapidly beginning to go down.

Finally, I feinted and scored a direct hit on him. A screen popped up proclaiming me the winner, but I ignored it.

"Think about it."

I glanced at Rin in a signal that we were leaving, then began to climb those stairs Kirito had only a few minutes ago.

The awed silence persisted as I walked up to the second floor, my sister jogging to keep up.

As the sunshine once again fell on our faces, we got our first look at the next floor to conquer. Much like the first, grassy plains stretched endlessly outwards, but they were broken here and there by lakes and streams. Small farms dotted the landscape as well, smoke trails rising from their primitive chimneys.

Finally my sister managed to stop looking at the scenery and properly chastise me, as I knew she'd been waiting to do.

"What the hell was that?" she exclaimed, shoving me with one hand and making a displeased expression.

I shrugged. "I think I explained it pretty well back in the dungeon. I don't want to get my head chopped off just because some incompetent idiot like this is leading us." I grinned slightly. "Plus, he indirectly insulted my little sister. I can't allow that."

"If I cared, I would've fought him myself!" she cried, before blushing at the realization of how petty my statement was. "What if you'd lost? What if he'd killed you?"

"The duel mode was set to first strike, Rin. It stops when you get down to half health or you score a direct hit on your opponent." I shook my head. "Besides, I had a feeling I wouldn't lose to that guy."

She still looked mad, but I could tell her anger was subsiding. Then she surprised me. "Thanks," she said softly.

I slowly turned my head to her. "What?"

"You're right." She sighed. "No one else wanted to stand up to him, though."

We stood for a moment in silence. "Yeah," I said finally. "Um...I guess we just as well go to the next village now, right?" She nodded her agreement.

The walk over there was mostly uneventful, only interrupted by occasional fights with the local fauna – a myriad of «Enraged Stags» and «Kobold Scouts». There was the occasional «Octol Boar», a much stronger variant of the one on the first floor, but nothing overly challenging. We reached the village after about half an hour, our health bars still mostly full.

It was a quaint little establishment, about 20 houses scattered around, the only thing really seeming to be anchored in place the village square in the middle of it all. A haphazardly-built inn, oddly leaning slightly to the left, stood just outside the main square. Most of the houses seemed to be this way – wooden plank siding, wooden shingles, and all having some odd architectural oddity.

"I hope there are rooms on the ground floor," my sister said dryly. I silently agreed with her.

The rest of the day, other plays gradually found their way up to Floor 2. Those I recognized from the clearing party all gave me a nod or thumbs-up of some sort for fighting Kibaou, I assumed. Even some adventurers that hadn't been in the dungeon seemed to recognize me.

I leaned back in my chair. From the inside, you could tell the inn was built of sturdy oak, from the spotted bar to the round tables in the main room to the supports overhead. It was a cozy enough place, a fireplace crackling in its cobblestone casing, lending its warmth to the chilly autumnal air. The various chairs around the room were gradually being taken by people passing through the door, the air beginning to bubble with private conversations.

"Didn't take them long to move right up, did it?" my sister asked bemusedly.

"They want to get out of here. I don't blame them," I replied, panning my gaze across the motley bunch of adventurers now crowding the inn from my semi-secluded corner.

Rin turned her gaze to the window outside, cold sunshine falling on her face. "I wouldn't mind staying here that much, if it wasn't just you and me," she said thoughtfully.

I nodded. "It's really not that much different from reality, it's just slightly more dangerous to go out. On the other hand, you won't die of sickness."

"I wonder how many people would rather just stay here." She shook her head slightly and turned back to me, smiling. "Sorry. That was starting to get a little philosophical."

I shrugged. "What's life without asking what it is?" I settled into my chair a little farther. "I'd enjoy it while I can. Everyone's going to be itching to get back out and get clearing again after this night of celebration." As I mentioned 'celebration,' I could already see drinks being passed around and the atmosphere of the inn gradually relaxing further.

"I think I'm going to get a room before they're all taken," my sister said, preferring to distance herself from the gayety of drunk, 20-year-old guys. That is, if you could get drunk in this world. I couldn't blame her, and quickly retreated to my own room as the patrons got evermore rowdy.

* * *

The rest of Floor 2 was greatly uneventful – just the usual myriad of quests, monsters, and towns. All in all, it wasn't overly different from the first in that regard. It was when we got to the dungeon that we were faced with a problem.

Through some sort of nonverbal communication, most of the last floor's boss party had made it into the central plaza of the city outside the second dungeon. Unlike when I had last saw most of them, their faces now were somber, determined. Except for Kibaou and a couple others I assumed to be his lackeys, the clearing group retained most of the people who'd fought in that first battle, along with a few new faces here and there.

The problem arose of who would lead, however. We may have all gotten together somehow, but no one had formally organized it. Everyone just milled around in confusion for a while before someone finally decided to step up. Not that he looked like he wanted to.

"I'm glad to see we all made it here today," I said. "I see most of you made it back, along with a few new faces." I nodded to those I recognized as new. "I guess I've kind of made myself the de facto leader now, though I'd rather not. If anyone else would step up, please – I'd prefer to just hack things up." I grinned rather lopsidedly. My sister just looked mildly horrified – whether at my terrible public speaking or that I was going to be _leading people_, I wasn't entirely sure.

Maybe it was that time of year. Either way, no one stepped forward. "...okay, I guess that's a resounding _no_. In that case, we should probably start discussing strategy, no?" I panned over the audience. I quickly pointed to the few I noticed didn't have a blank look on their faces after the word 'strategy.' "Let's discuss it inside, shall we?"

I began walking back to the inn, trusting that the players I'd picked would fall into step beside me. Sure enough, they did...and I could only hope they had more ideas than me. There were few enough of us to fit at one of the long tables of the inn in the central city of Floor 2. I recognized most of the faces around the table – Asuna, the swordswoman who had fought with Kirito; Kirito himself, whom I was surprised to see after last floor; a man named Heathcliff, who had been one of the lead tanks; and Lind, another leading tank. I'd come to know all in time as powerful players in their own right; at the time I was too occupied with trying to think of what to say.

Luckily I didn't have to say much of anything, as Kirito had begun to quietly dictate a plan to us. It was much the same as what we did on the first floor – we would be broken into multiple parties by class, each serving its own function in the battle – but with the raid leaders in their own party, not necessarily always together in the battle, able to keep tabs on each other and issue orders accordingly.

Through nodding and quiet agreement, we communicated we liked this plan. After a little ironing out of details, we were ready to send out the scouting parties (a precaution we opted to take after Illfang's surprise attack last floor).

I paced around the middle plaza, a fountain happily bubbling beside. It'd been about four hours since we'd sent the first scouting party, and they still hadn't returned as of yet. Two more had been sent since then, and they hadn't returned either.

The sun continued to turn its gaze down upon us, its rays stretching over the roofs of the city around us. Those of us still gathered in the plaza were beginning to get anxious; others had already left to go and fight some monsters out in the field to pass the time.

Just as the sun was beginning to dip below the horizon did the scouting parties finally reappear, four weaker than when they had entered. Quickly they were barraged with questions from those still in attendance, the weariness clearly visible on their faces.

I walked over to the small mob and said, "Okay, okay. Perhaps we can get our answers from them _after _they've rested up? The boss isn't going away!" I tried to sound stern, but that's not the easiest thing to do at the awkward age of 13.

Nonetheless, the adventurers listened and opened a path to the inn for the scouts. Everyone began to follow them, but I held up a hand. "Let them be. They weren't told to report until morning anyways." A lie constructed to give them some rest, but I'm sure they needed it – their faces were gaunt, pale. I knew it couldn't have been easy losing four of a group that was originally only 18 strong.

As the sun turned its domain over to the moon and night fell upon is, I could only help but wonder if it would soon be night for us, as well.

* * *

**AN: Hey, everyone! As usual, thanks for reading my story!**

**I was going to write that this was a really short chapter...but then I noticed how short my other chapters were. I'll try to make a note of expanding them next time; I just wanted to get this one out quickly.**

**Also, I checked the wiki for some things this chapter - I'll try to stay canon as best I can, but for the most part I'm going to be going off of what I remember from the anime. If I started doing everything the same as the novels did, not only would it take longer but I feel I'd have less of my own creativity in the story. That said, I'll try not to completely break the story, either.**

**See you next chapter!**


End file.
